HoSS Strategy - May 2016

Lobot commanded the guards of Bespin under the Baron Administrator Lando Calrissian. In HoSS, Lobot works best under Lando's leadership, but he can give squad bonding to any unique hero. This allows Lobot to work in an incredibly diverse number of armies. However, to truly understand best to use Lobot, one must first take a look at his stats and special powers.

Analyzed Statistics:Size –Medium 5 (Average; Lobot can use this to easily hide behind ruins or higher terrain)
Life –3 (A low health level; Lobot should stay out of conflicts)
Move –5 (Average; should Lobot need to move, he can keep up with his bonding squads)
Range –5 (A tad below average for ranged HoSS heroes)
Attack –3 (An average attack for heroes, allowing him to do some damage in a fight)
Defense –2 (Very low for unique heroes; Lobot is extremely fragile)
Points –80 (Fairly low, allowing Lobot to easily fit into armies)

CLOUD CITY ADMINISTRATIVE AIDE: At the start of the game, choose a small or medium Unique Hero you control to be the Administrator of Cloud City. For the remainder of the game, that figure's Class is Administrator instead of the Class listed on its card.

NETWORK UPLINK: After revealing an Order Marker on this card and before taking a turn with Lobot, you may take a turn with one squad of Independent Guards or Independent Pilots you control. Instead of moving and attacking with Lobot, you may take a turn with another Administrator you control.

EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION: If you control Lando Calrissian and he is the Administrator of Cloud City, Lando, Lobot, and any Independent Guards or Independent Pilots you control are never attacked when leaving an engagement.

Overall Analysis

Synergies:Lobot offers order marker management and administrator bonding with 3 squads: Bespin Guards, Cloud Car Pilots, and Gamorrean Guards. Additionally, Lobot can make any unique hero an administrator, allowing that unique hero to bond with the aforementioned squads. Whichever hero and whichever squad(s) you use need to synergize with one another.

Gamorrean Guards are slow melee units, but offer the best protection against normal attacks and the best offensive power, assuming they can catch their opponents. Someone that helps the Gamorreans move faster or a ranged glass cannon is good to pair with the Gamorreans and Lobot. Warden 816 is not a very good administrator, but is useful to boost the Gamorreans’ speed if you can spare the points.

Bespin Guards are an average ranged squad, but can boost their defense with Coordinated Defense and gain some extra movement at the same time. They work well with practically any hero.

Cloud Car Pilots offer a lot of ranged offense and a very strong special attack, but they are expensive and unique, so when one figure falls, your entire offensive output decreases. Luckily, Lobot’s order marker management means this downside to a unique squad is not as crippling, assuming you have Bespin Guards or Gamorreans in reserve. You typically want to use the Cloud Car Pilots offensively right away, before any die. Thus, a faster hero works well with them, to attack the enemy while they are focused on eliminating Cloud Car Pilots.

One thing to keep in mind with Lobot is that when he makes a hero an administrator, that hero loses his original class. So any synergies dependent on that original class would disappear once Lobot overrides it.

Survivability:Having two defense and three life, Lobot can be easily killed by most squads and heroes. He should be kept in the start zone behind a ruin or surrounded by guards if possible.

Offense:Lobot's offensive capabilities are average with a ranged attack of 3, but due to his fragility and importance to his army, Lobot should probably not enter the fight until all other bonding heroes have fallen. However, if the situation demands it, Lobot’s ranged attack of 3 can provide a much-needed boost in firepower for his bonding squads.

Strategy:The obvious strategy with Lobot is to pair him with a hero that’s already strong on its own, and give it bonding with Bespin Guards. Both Darth Vaders, Boba Fett, and Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) all fit this category. These are very strong armies at the start of the game but struggle when their powerhouse hero falls. Depending on your squad and hero combination, it may be better to slow-roll your entire army as a force, or rush your hero out early followed by squads to protect him once he is wounded. The opponent’s army composition affects this decision as well. Generally, though, these strong heroes are durable enough to safely be at the head of their armies.

Bib Fortuna offers Lobot armies another option: a way to bring Gamorrean Guards and Bespin Guards back from the dead! Since Bib is already an administrator, you can bring another cheap hero (such as Greedo) along to utilize in the early game. Once a few of your squad members have fallen, start bonding with Bib instead and bring them back.

The thematic bonding option, Lando Calrissian, gives your squads the Disengage special power, which is very useful for the ranged squads. Lando can also pack a major punch offensively, but is a tad unreliable due to his Here Goes Nothing power. Lando is not the most survivable figure, yet due to his unreliable attack an opponent might not prioritize him as a target. Thus, it is generally safe to lead out with Lando in an attempt to assassinate a key enemy figure.

As mentioned earlier, Gamorrean Guards are best used with units that can help their crippling slowness. Yoda is an excellent option, able to both move Gamorreans forward and move enemy figures out of protected areas and off of height. The Yoda + Lobot + Gamorreans army has been coined as “HoSS’s Greenroller” due to the slow but inevitable advance of Yoda and his allies, destroying all in their path with powerful melee attacks. The Greenroller should be wary of long-ranged opponents, however.

Over on the classic ’Scape side of things, any good stand-alone hero works well with Lobot, such as Sgt. Alexander Drake (SotM), Sonlen, or Cyprien Esenwein. Taelord is an interesting option, giving the Bespin squads an extra attack die at range. His high cost and low survivability make him a risk, however. Raelin provides a very strong defensive boost, but she does not help much at all offensively, so she is not a great choice for administrator.

Units to Avoid:Being the centerpiece to his army, Lobot should avoid most enemy units. However, there are several units that are especially dangerous to Lobot. Any bounty hunter can set Lobot as his Bounty to gain an extra attack die against Lobot, but Boba Fett is especially deadly due to his ability to use his Stealth Jetpack past enemy units. 4-LOM and IG-88B both have special attacks which avoid the bonuses adjacent Bespin Guards and Gamorrean Guards offer Lobot.

AT-ST’s are a danger for the same reason. Their Double Cannon Special Attack can take down Lobot in one turn, while the AT-ST can easily step over units that would slow any other foe down.

Finally, Darth Vader (ESB) is especially dangerous to Lobot due to Vader’s Force Throw ability. Lobot has to surround himself with guards to keep him alive, and Vader can easily remove that protection from Lobot.